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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is in talks to buy 6.4 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine from Russia and wants to increase its purchases of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Minister of Science said on Wednesday (December 23), Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin: As the country seeks to strengthen its arsenal against the pandemic.
Malaysia is spending around $ 500 million to buy enough vaccine doses to inoculate 26.5 million people, or 82.8% of its population.
It has already bought vaccines from US drugmaker Pfizer and Britain’s AstraZeneca, and it hopes to get more from Chinese and Russian manufacturers, as well as its participation in the global COVAX facility, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The government had increased its vaccine supply targets to take into account the risks that some vaccines may not be approved by regulators or if manufacturers fail to deliver them, Khairy told reporters.
“We want to have a little more cushioning,” he said.
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In addition to talks with Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, the developer of the Sputnik V vaccine, Malaysia is also in talks with Chinese manufacturers Sinovac Biotech and CanSino Biologics to purchase their vaccines.
The agreements with Chinese and Russian manufacturers will include cooperation with Malaysian companies to carry out the filling and finishing work, Khairy said.
Malaysia has also obtained 6.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX, doubling the amount it had already agreed to buy from the drug company.
The government is also in negotiations with Pfizer over an option to increase its purchase of vaccines to cover another 20 percent of its population, Khairy added.
Malaysia has purchased 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine so far, with the first shipment expected to arrive in February.
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